Dungeon Siege II

[Silk]

First question - anyone got it?

I've been waiting for ages for it to be released because I enjoyed the original Dungeon Siege and its expansion for light relief from BGII (so I wouldn't go stale on BGII).

I downloaded the demo (12 hours - yes, 12 hours on broadband, it's approximately 1400meg) and started playing.  The first thing I discovered was that I needed a new video card but the game does play, albeit slowly and with some graphic oddities.  Aside from the basic original Dungeon Siege familiar commands, etc, I discovered a game that seems to be a mix of BGII (quests, puzzles), NWN (conversations, dialogue boxes) and from what I've read, Diablo II.  Oh, perhaps with a touch of Planescape:Torment thrown in as well.

Some reviewers have reported as a bug the fact that when you die or reload a saved game before you die, you re-spawn in the last city/town you were in but I recall P:T and NWN doing similar things, so I suspect it's not a bug at all, just a game device.  However, it's annoying.  Even if you reload a saved game, you show up in the town/city, not where you saved the game, so there can be a lot of trudging around to do to get back to where you were.

Apart from that (and want of a new video card), it's addictive, immersive and fun.

Those who have played it may recognise different things from what I have so far.  If so, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

[NiGHTMARE]

While it's still an action RPG at heart, Dungeon Siege 2 has quite a few more story-driven RPG elements than the original.  More people to talk to, a better story, far more side quests, and best of all it's a heck of a lot less linear.  The save thing can indeed be annoying, but it can also be useful too - if you're getting the *** kicked out of you during a fight, simply save, quit, and reload .

[Borsook]

I've got it for some time now, at first I liked it a lot, then grew tired. It works fairly well, only few bugs and uses the old engine so great performance. It's much more like Diablo2 than DS1 was. (like the mentioned save system - the portals are really far away from each other). The save system means that if you play in small sessions game quickly gets too easy (too much xp). Dying has almost no consequences (you get 3 choices and the worst that can happen is losing gold) Skill system is nice. But... and those things made me stop playing: items are really poorly balanced (many too overpowered), too easy, and really hate the look of characters and monsters. Maybe it's good that they've deceided not to use "generic" races/enemies and their look, but for me everything you meet (and also your characters) is just plain ugly. There is a lot more RP and plot but mostly it's terrible and quickly you start to wish for it to disappear.

[Vappour]

Is is true that you have to beat the game in order to access greater game difficulty and aquire more party members?  Also, has anybody heard of a game called "Fable?"  A version for the PC (extra content) is coming out this month (on 9/20 I think).  It was originally X-Box only.  Any information  or opinions?

[Borsook]

Yes, again difficulty system is like Diablo2. So it's rather for replaying with a advanced party than increasing diff.

Fable is, well, an interesting action game. It has a really nice "touches", but it's just an action game, it's even less an RPG then DS2. That said PC version has a nice interface, looks great and runs even better even on my not that "top" system.

[Silk]

Ouch.  One thing I found is that if you allow yourself to be respawned, you show up with NO equipment, not a thing.  It all stays back on the battlefield where you fell, which primarily means going back, finishing the battle against the beasties who beat you (even if you had armour and special equipment) with NO equipment before you can get to your own stuff.

I did speak to someone in the Dryad city who said something about talking to an Innkeeper if you wanted to increase the size of your party but as I'm still a prisoner, I can't access that area.  I can't finish the game because it's a demo so at the moment I can't try any other levels.  (I do DS on Hard.  It helps teach me tactics, especially in the early stages.)

I like the idea of Autocast for Healing and Summons spells (I've always played a Combat Mage) and I like the idea that they've expanded the Tragg into pets.  I assume you can also have the usual packmules, etc as well.  But what happened to the cute little orange backpacks you could have in DS:LOA?

I'm told the demo ends at the Elven City but as I don't know where that is or what it's called, I expect this demo is going to take up a great deal of time to get to the end of it, especially when I keep dying in the middle of nowhere.  I've been promised the game for Christmas, now all I have to do is save up for a new video card.

I guess between now and Christmas I'll have to try out all four classes.

I have to admit I like DSII.  They've given it a storyline and side quests and hack and slash has always been a good way for me to relax.

[Borsook]

Ouch.  One thing I found is that if you allow yourself to be respawned, you show up with NO equipment, not a thing.  It all stays back on the battlefield where you fell, which primarily means going back, finishing the battle against the beasties who beat you (even if you had armour and special equipment) with NO equipment before you can get to your own stuff.

There's a guy with a graveyard over his head who for a fee will bring back your equipment, so you don't have to go back. If you're new to the game talk to everyone who has an icon to learn what it means.

I did speak to someone in the Dryad city who said something about talking to an Innkeeper if you wanted to increase the size of your party but as I'm still a prisoner, I can't access that area.  I can't finish the game because it's a demo so at the moment I can't try any other levels.  (I do DS on Hard.  It helps teach me tactics, especially in the early stages.)

You can have 4 characters/animals on default difficulty +1 per further difficulty levels. What do you mean you do it on hard??

I'm told the demo ends at the Elven City but as I don't know where that is or what it's called, I expect this demo is going to take up a great deal of time to get to the end of it, especially when I keep dying in the middle of nowhere.  I've been promised the game for Christmas, now all I have to do is save up for a new video card.

I think it ends after first "plot related" quest in Dryad city. As for dying see above.

[Silk]

1. I know, he takes all your gold in exchange.
2. I play the original DS on Hard.
3. Okay.

[Borsook]

1. I know, he takes all your gold in exchange.
2. I play the original DS on Hard.
3. Okay.

1. Yap, which since usually you don't carry a lot of gold on you makes dying a no-penatly thing
2. Right, I thought you were talking about DS2

[Evaine Dian]

I did speak to someone in the Dryad city who said something about talking to an Innkeeper if you wanted to increase the size of your party but as I'm still a prisoner, I can't access that area.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think I could access the inn, even though I was a prisoner. I only remember for sure that I couldn't go to the great hall.

I like the idea of Autocast for Healing and Summons spells (I've always played a Combat Mage) and I like the idea that they've expanded the Tragg into pets.  I assume you can also have the usual packmules, etc as well. 

In the demo, you can buy pets in the dryad town when you're free.
Elven combat mages are cool and I also liked dryads with nature magic spells a lot, but melee is tedious.

I'm told the demo ends at the Elven City but as I don't know where that is or what it's called, I expect this demo is going to take up a great deal of time to get to the end of it, especially when I keep dying in the middle of nowhere. I guess between now and Christmas I'll have to try out all four classes.

If you play it through for the first time, it's pretty long (for a demo), but I guess it's not long enough to keep you happy until Christmas 

[Borsook]

No, you can't access the inn until the prisoner status is off. In the full version anyway, I've never played the demo.

[NiGHTMARE]

IIRC the demo ends in the great hall, after you return from the elven shrine.

[Imrahil]

I enjoyed DS 2 as a light diversion.  It was fairly fun but somewhat mindless (not meant as a bad thing in this case) & greatly improved over DS1, with skill paths & even some character interaction & interjections.  But, I did cheat a little to enhance my enjoyment...

When I first read about having to make it through lower difficulty levels to be able to have a larger party, I quickly located this site...

http://www.cheathappens.com/cheat_index.asp?titleID=10687

A lot of the cheats are extremely power-gamey stuff, but if you scroll down to #30, there's a "6 Slots Mod" which will allow you to have 6 slots at all difficulty levels (you still have to pay for them, it just enables the slots).  Just un-Zip the file into your Resources directory & you're set.

After beating it on the first difficulty level, I eventually installed #31 "Amulet of the Dead" as well, as the idea of tracking down all the Spirits *after* getting the Chant of the Dead once more was annoying.  I also eventually installed the "Disband Mod" so you can re-recruit your party members after starting a new game at higher difficulty & the "New Hair Mod" because, well, why not?

All of these made the game *much* more enjoyable than the vanilla version, to me at least.

I'm probably going to try the "Spell Slots Mod" (adds to Autocast slots at the expense of Reserve spells) & the "Succubus Mod" (adds more playable races) in my next run through.

EDIT: I should have included this originally:

http://www.forumplanet.com/planetdungeonsiege/topic.asp?fid=14975&tid=1758924

Sometimes when (un)installing new MOD's, your save games don't show up in the list of games, but running this will re-enable them.  Don't panic if you install a MOD & your character(s) "vanish" - just run the above.

- Imrahil

[Borsook]

That's very nice but this game is so, so easy... you know, toddler level. Do you know of any mods that make it harder not easier?

[Silk]

Everyone has their own likes and dislikes in games.  Toddler level to some people is not toddler level to others, so my view is you're either a damn good tactician or a show-off, Borsook.  I play games because I enjoy them and/or need a break from another game, not because I want to say how easy they were.  If I really wanted easy, I'd be playing DS1 on Easy.  Besides, there are days when I want to kill everything in sight.

I finished Merc in DSII recently twice but I'm notorious for stopping partway through a game and creating a new char to play with.  Overall, it took around 3 months to finish (including changing my mind about how I wanted to look and what class I wanted to play - eventually decided on Combat Mage as that's the only thing I'd played in DS1).  Having 8Mb of video RAM didn't improve the time factor, either.  I shut down everything on the graphics options that I didn't need and it ran okay, if slowly.

The first time I used a walkthrough but relied on my memory after that, so I did every side quest and that does take time.

I'd been pretty ill before Christmas, got the game for Christmas, so used it as recovery therapy and a break from Mod testing in BGII.

Overall, I think it's a vast improvement on DS1 and considering my video RAM, a damn good game.

[Silk]

No, you can't access the inn until the prisoner status is off. In the full version anyway, I've never played the demo.

Actually, in the full version, you can access the Inn - it's about the one place you can go.

[Evaine Dian]

I knew that the inn was the only place one could go to. As for the other question, I vote for "show-off". I can tell, I played a BG 2 multiplayer game with him, but got horribly bored after half an hour of lame tactics. Instead of taking a risk and attacking everything in sight, I had to stand around in a corner, tell jokes to myself and wait endless minutes until he had finally decided what to do - take a risk and attack everything in sight. And after that he told me that my way of playing a bard is wrong. 

[Silk]

... and the reason I've been missing is that I'm having a break from the BG series and playing DSII Broken World.

[jester]

If you saved a game in PST you were exactly where you saved the game, but since you couldn't die your corpse would be picked up an brought to the mortuary in earlier stages of the game for example.

[Clarion]

Wow, there's people here who actually play DSII ?!

I thought the character conversations were a nice touch, but the fact that everyone only seems to want to chat when we're being attacked, and then the dialogue gets cut short is awfully annoying.  Compared to DSI and DSLOA, the graphics stink, I miss the days when weapons relied on strength/dexterity/intelligence instead of skill level, and the fact that it's still almost completely hack-and-slash truly sucks.  And the 'Spirits of Aranna' quest is absolutely irritating.

But sometimes I'll burn out on BGII or IWDII and I'll play DSII, and then, after losing half my brain cells in mindless combat, I'll remember how in love I am with the Bioware games.  Is that like cheating on your spouse to remember how much they mean to you?

At one point, the game almost outsmarted me, and I was humiliated.  Outsmarted by Dungeon Siege?  Anybody else in this long-forgotten thread get to experience that embarrassment?  Specifically under the fountain in Kalrathia?

[Dave Greenblade]

I still think the stupid extreme fantasy artwork was terrible, but hey, it's still Dungeon Siege! I love this game!